Comment by topspin

> People only use Nix because it doesn't randomly break, bitrot or require arcane system setup.

I'll stipulate this, despite knowing and appreciating the much greater value Nix has.

Then, the problem that Nix solves isn't something container users care about. At scale, the bare metal OS hosting containers is among the least of one's problems: typically a host image is some actively maintained, rigorously tested artifact provided by one of a couple different reliable sources. Ideally container users are indifferent to it, and they experience few if any surprises using them, including taking frequent updates to close vulnerabilities.

> Unlike containers.

Containers randomly break or bitrot? I've never encountered that view. They don't do this as far as I'm aware. Container images incorporate layer hashing that ensure integrity: they do not "bitrot." Image immutability delivers highly consistent behavior, as opposed to "randomly break." The self-contained nature of containers delivers high portability, despite differences in "system setup." I fail to find any agreement with these claims. Today, people think nothing of developing images using one set of tools (Docker or what have you) and running these image using entirely distinct runtimes (containerd, cloud service runtimes, etc.) This is taken entirely for granted, and it works well.

> Arcane system setup.

I don't know what is meant by "system setup" here, and "arcane" is subjective. What I do know is that the popular container systems are successfully and routinely used by neophytes, and that this doesn't happen when the "system setup" is too demanding and arcane. The other certainty I have is that whatever cost there is in acquiring the rather minimal knowledge needed to operate containers is vastly smaller than achieving the same ends without containers: the moment a system involves more than 2-3 runtime components, containers start paying off verses running the same components natively.